Box Office: Is 'Predators' $25.3 million debut enough to warrant a sequel?
'Despicable Me' opens to a stunning $60.1 million, 'Kid Are All Rght' biggest average of the year
Will we ever find out what happens to Adrien Brody and Alice Braga's characters after "Predators"?
Hollywood is no doubt buzzing about the impressive and surprising $60.1 million weekend for Universal Studios' "Despicable Me," but bigger questions surround another of the weekend's debuts, "Predators."
Budgeted for a reasonable $38 million, the Robert Rodriguez-produced Sci-Fi flick scored $25.3 million in its first weekend. While that gross would normally be considered solid, the film dropped from its Friday $10.4 million debut to only $8.4 million on Saturday. Unless it's a horror movie, that's usually eye-brow raising and a sign a film has a very short shelf life. 20th Century Fox will have to hope the well-received action picture develops good word of mouth throughout the week or strong international grosses if it hopes to create a new franchise. What's most troubling is that the Friday figure is a sign there was a core audience waiting for another "Predator" movie, but that Fox was unable to market it to other audiences. This would be the third disappointing opening in a row for the studio after "The A-Team" and "Knight and Day." The studio has gotten by on one hit here, one bomb there for years, but this string may be a sign a serious shake up is in order in the marketing department.
As for "Despicable Me," the summer's first surprise hit found the no. 1 slot with even with two other major releases splitting the limited 3-D screens available; "The Last Airbender" and "Toy Story 3." It also beat the 3-D debut of "How To Train Your Dragon" ($43.3 million) and basically matched "Clash of the Titans" ($61 million). Champagne should be popping in Universal City on Monday morning and not just because of the new animated blockbuster. Sister studio Focus Features debuted "The Kids Are All Right" on seven screens to an incredible $504,000 or a $72,000 per screen average. Summer not only has its first surprise hit, but it's first breakout indie hit.
In the third slot was "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" with another $33.4 million and a new total of $237 million. Whether the third installment of the "Twilight" franchise can hit $300 million remains to be seen. Why the box office has slowed down so dramatically for "Eclipse" compared to "New Moon" is unclear. Could the summer find too many distractions for the film's core audience? Is less than 12 months between each film too much "Twilight" to take for the casual fan? Summit will need to do some research before deciding when to slot the currently unscheduled "Breaking Dawn, Part 2." The first "Breaking Dawn" won't hit theaters until Nov. 2011.
Fourth found "Toy Story 3" with another $22 million and a new domestic cume of $340.2 million. The magic $400 million mark seems inevitable at this point for the Pixar wonder.
"The Last Airbender" dropped almost 60%, but still crossed the $100 million mark with a weekend take of $17.1 million. However, whether M. Night Shyamalan's adaptation of the Nickelodeon TV series deserves a second installment still remains to be seen.
Next weekend the critically acclaimed "Inception" opens nationwide and on IMAX screens. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" makes a mid-week debut on Wednesday.
Final box office actuals are released on Monday.
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July 11, 2010 at 12:38PM EST Reply to CommentI guess that caption underneath the Predators picture is a spoiler. Thanks guys.
Sergio
July 11, 2010 at 1:17PM EST Reply to CommentPredators was not marketed that much at all.
Being a lifelong Predator fan, I have been waiting for a film that delivers. Those AVP movies were abominations that almost destroyed the Alien & Predator Franchises.
So far Predators look good, and the reviews are good. This will be the Summer Movie that gets me in the movie theatre. I don't go to the Cinemas anymore, this year the only movie I have seen is a Nightmare on Elm Street.
Reply to comment...
July 11, 2010 at 2:30PM EST
A Nightmare On Elm Street, Sergio? Yikes. Sorry about that one man.
July 11, 2010 at 2:32PM ESTPredators did have its flaws, but I thought it was worthy enough. I really liked it, especially because this year and summer has been more or less horrendous in quality.
Stormshadow4life
July 11, 2010 at 1:41PM EST Reply to CommentI'd say The Karate Kid is a WAY bigger surprise hit than Despicable Me.
Stormshadow4life or was that technically a Spring movie? I can't remember
July 11, 2010 at 1:45PM EST
I agree, Karate Kid was a bigger surprise hit. Definitely a summer movie too.
July 11, 2010 at 2:33PM ESTCrow3711
July 11, 2010 at 1:42PM EST Reply to CommentI, for one, really enjoyed Predators yesterday. it's not perfect, obviously. There are some pretty huge storytelling flaws, plot-wise, that just make no sense. But they don't matter, cause its badass the entire time. It was a good Predator movie, and it deserved the name Predators. That is exactly what its about, and the parts of it that are awesome, are really awesome. Basically, all I'm saying is that I would recommend it without hesitation, and I can only say that about like 2 other movies since March.
hayley
July 11, 2010 at 3:54PM EST Reply to CommentPredators was horribly marketed and released at the wrong time.
DirkD13"
July 11, 2010 at 4:23PM EST Reply to CommentI reckon Inception could do a $50-$60mil opening weekend, what do you guys think?
Butch
July 11, 2010 at 8:43PM EST Reply to Commentwell....
I am more concerned how this lackluster opening will effect ridley scott's new alien film- I am sure there will be a ripple.
Cullen
July 12, 2010 at 5:36PM EST Reply to CommentIt's not lackluster, it's considered very solid. Every website is saying so.....except this one. I know who I believe.
JoJo
July 12, 2010 at 8:56PM EST Reply to CommentGregory you have zero clue about boxoffice. Predators had a 38-40 million budget. It grossed 25 million in 3 days making back half of its budget in opening weekend. Also, alien and predator franchises are meant to be frontloaded. They only appeal to a specific demographic. The general audience don't give a shit about those two franchises, so in my opinion Predators actually did pretty good. The marketing was weak (fox didn't spend much) and it was released in only 2669 theatres. It did fine. Infact, it is fox's only solid hit this summer because it will make back its budget easily.